2013 FORD FUSION — Complaint #1596420
Open-data reference.
NHTSA Complaint about STEERING:LINKAGES filed August 21, 2019
NHTSA complaint #1596420 (ODI reference 11245563) concerns a 2013 FORD FUSION and was filed on August 21, 2019. The owner reports the failure occurred on August 20, 2019. The vehicle had 161,546 miles on the odometer at the time of the incident. The report was geocoded to Wisconsin based on the filer's self-reported location. The affected component is categorized as steering:linkages, one of NHTSA's standardized taxonomy codes used to group defect patterns across make, model, and year.
The filer flagged the following severity indicators: crash: no, fire: no, injuries: 0, fatalities: 0. No crash, fire, or fatality was associated with this report, which places it in the early-warning stream rather than the priority-review stream. Because a VIN was supplied, this complaint is tied to a specific vehicle and not just a model-year cohort.
Individual complaints are consumer-submitted and unverified by NHTSA engineers — the agency's role at this stage is to collect, index, and make them searchable. What matters for federal action is the pattern: when many owners of the same FORD FUSION cohort independently describe similar steering:linkages failures, defect investigators have grounds to open a PE and request manufacturer data. Related filings for the same vehicle and component appear below, and the detail page for the full 2013 FORD FUSION shows the complete component-level complaint distribution alongside any active investigations or recalls.
Complaint Description
TL* THE CONTACT OWNS A 2013 FORD FUSION. WHILE DRIVING 50 MPH, THE VEHICLE SHIFTED INTO LOW GEAR. WHILE ATTEMPTING TO SHIFT INTO PARK, THE VEHICLE FAILED TO ENGAGE AND CONTINUED TO MOVE. THE EMERGENCY BRAKE WAS APPLIED TO STOP THE VEHICLE. THERE WERE NO WARNING INDICATORS ILLUMINATED. THE CONTACT CALLED BULL VALLEY FORD (1460 S EASTWOOD DR, WOODSTOCK, IL 60098, (815) 338-6680) AND INFORMED THEM OF THE FAILURE. THE VEHICLE WAS TAKEN TO AN INDEPENDENT MECHANIC WHO STATED THAT THE BUSHING NEEDED TO BE REPLACED DUE TO CORROSION AND THE STEERING LINKAGE FRACTURED. THE VEHICLE WAS REPAIRED. THE MANUFACTURER WAS CONTACTED AND PROVIDED CASE NUMBER: CASE [XXX]. THE CONTACT STATED THAT THE FAILURE WAS SIMILAR TO NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 18V471000 (POWER TRAIN). THE FAILURE MILEAGE WAS 161,546. *BF CONSUMER STATED BATTERY WAS RECHARGED AFTER EMERGENCY FLASHER WAS DISCHARGED. ALSO VEHICLE WAS TOWED AND STEERING LINKAGE WAS REPAIRED. ('PARTS OF THIS DOCUMENT HAVE BEEN REDACTED TO PROTECT PERSON
Complaint Details
| NHTSA Complaint ID | 1596420 |
| ODI Number | 11245563 |
| Date Filed | August 21, 2019 |
| Failure Date | August 20, 2019 |
| VIN | 3FA6P0HRXDR |
Source: NHTSA Vehicle Complaints Database. Component taxonomy and severity codes are standardized by NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation.
Read our methodology — how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.